Eastern factions. Help me pick

[Bootsiuv]

Baktria is probably my favorite faction....they get some great units, they have easiest access to the wealth that is the Indus valley, and they have the coolest faction color IMO.

Baktria = r0x0r5!!11!!eleventeen!!1!1

[Hooahguy]

ya..... my armies look good in deep blue! ;-)
go Baktria!
lol

[Elminster12]

Baktria is the easier of those, and thus probably the better start-point. Saka especially is really rough sailing at the beginning. Plus, they do have a really large unit roster and those juicy Indian provinces to expand into. Be sure to use a level three government in at least one of those provinces for elephants and indian longbowmen!

[Hound of Ulster]

Pahlavi. All cav armies with the Pahlavi can cut through the Seleukids like a hot knife through butter.

[beatoangelico]

Baktria is the easier of those, and thus probably the better start-point. Saka especially is really rough sailing at the beginning. Plus, they do have a really large unit roster and those juicy Indian provinces to expand into. Be sure to use a level three government in at least one of those provinces for elephants and indian longbowmen!

a lv1 gov is enough for getting the longbowmen

[Elminster12]

a lv1 gov is enough for getting the longbowmen

It is now? That's good.

[Treverer]

If you like cav & HA, then pick Pahlava. If you like it easier and you prefer a good mix of (absolutely amazing looking) infantry & cavalry, pick Baktria.

But ... you can recreate the "Old Persian"/Achaemenid Empire with the AS, the Ptolemaioi, Pontos or Hayasdan too, though the last two are REALLY tough.

It is your choice, in the end.

Yours, T.

[The Persian Cataphract]

I disagree with the inclusion of the Ptolemaioi having the credentials to substitute the once Achaemenid colossus; Their access to Iranian units is not comparable to that of AS, Baktria, Pahlava, Hayasdan or Pontos. While Ptolemaioi certainly has the capacity of great expansion, the composition of its armies resembles something else, as does their organization and administrational machine. Otherwise your assessment bears merit

[The Persian Cataphract]

May I suggest the Pahlavân? They may not have as simple a starting position as Baktria, but their form of government is flexible and extends to the benefits of sedentary and nomadic forms; Furthermore, while Baktria has a comparable power in cavalry, the variety of the Pahlavân is unmatched and an equestrian army can almost be contructed to one's deepest wishes. Furthermore, only two factions have the potential to harness the strength and spectra of the Iranian Plataeu, one being Hayasdan in their reformed period, and the other being Pahlavâ; Whereas Hayasdan emphasizes a bit more on infantry, while Pahlavâ focuses on mounted archery, both are very comparable in their late-game potential, except for now, Pahlavân has the upper edge in being able to harness steppen lands. It further means that they have the potential to utterly defeat the Sacae at their own game, and practically make the steppes a frontier of their own.

Another favourable factor is casualty control. When in control of Seleucid, Bactrian, Pontic or Armenian armies, the significant lack of horse-archery, the general has to expect significant casualties, unless in command of battle-hardened veterans or pitted against a clearly inferior foe. On the other hand, Parthian armies are expensive. Luckily, later on this shouldn't be a problem as they ought to have a very "mercantile" campaign game. Furthermore, the Pahlavâ do get one of the most ass-kicking if not the most ass-kicking bodyguard units in their late game, along with an equally powerful recruitable late cataphract unit. The Pahlavân are "poor" on infantry, but not all infantry is poor; The Hyrcanians make excellent shock troops, the Iranian axemen are a well-to-do light auxiliary unit, Persian hoplites are solid when assigned for sentry duty, levy phalangites, some of the finest foot-archers in the mod, late Partho-Hellenic infantry make decent "imitation legions", Babylonian spearmen, Eastern hellenic medium infantry and of course the unbeatable masters of distasters, Iranian archer-spearmen (No, I'm serious... There is no reason not to love those guys, I mean they fire arrows and they can hold a line pretty good until your cavalry can bring the smackdown... What more could you possibly ask for? ). The key is to use infantry only as auxiliaries and/or as garrison personnel; On boot, the Pahlavân get their own flavour of elephantry as well, a representation of elephantry in the Indo-Parthian/Sûrên-Pahlavân/Gondopharid veneer.

For those who cannot live without high performance infantry, artillery and armoured elephants, Baktria fills those voids pretty neatly. But if you want a faction in where you'd like a nearly maxed out cap on available cavalry, including the fine quality horsemanship available in the steppes, while being able to rear a very "Persian" army, the Parthians make a good option. If I really lobby for them, I have even higher thoughts of them

[jhhowell]

When in control of Seleucid, Bactrian, Pontic or Armenian armies, the significant lack of horse-archery...

You'll have to drop Hayasdan from that list, they get horse archers early and often. In the suggestions thread I've advocated for making the Scythian HA a little harder to get (regional MIC-2 instead of the current MIC-1). Not to mention those godlike cataphract archers in the factional roster - though I dare say the Parthians should have something at least as good if not better.

Palmtree, Hayasdan is not a suicide campaign. Just don't play on VH, but that goes for almost anyone other than AS, IMHO. If your Bactria game is on VH, that would be why AS jumped you early...

[Treverer]

@ Palmtree:

in my ongoing Baktrian campaign (H/M), I'm actually getting my provinces via ... say, a bit nasty way: my armies are relativly small (= garrisons & mobile defence forces) and I rely on my spies to revolt AS cities. Two of them have revolted so far and are now Baktrian. Alright, alright, this isn't the "most heroic" way to expand, but it's funny nevertheless. And it allows me to prepare the conquest of India.

Yours, T.

EDIT: on my post above I wrote that Baktria has the most beautiful units. Well, that was incorrect, as it should be: "Baktria has the most beautiful units of all Hellenic/Successor factions". IMHO, the Getai units look wonderful/splendid too. (Haven't seen too many other so-called Barbarian units so far.).

T.

[palmtree]

Palmtree, Hayasdan is not a suicide campaign. Just don't play on VH, but that goes for almost anyone other than AS, IMHO. If your Bactria game is on VH, that would be why AS jumped you early...

I'm playing all campaigns on H/M. VH makes diplomacy useless, on H it's atleast an option some of the time.

[The Persian Cataphract]

You'll have to drop Hayasdan from that list, they get horse archers early and often. In the suggestions thread I've advocated for making the Scythian HA a little harder to get (regional MIC-2 instead of the current MIC-1). Not to mention those godlike cataphract archers in the factional roster - though I dare say the Parthians should have something at least as good if not better.

Agreed, Armenia's available spectrum of recruitable cavalry and light horse, is far more comparable to that of the Parthians, but still not quite there. The Parthians have pretty much the same availability of auxiliaries as Sacae or the Sarmatians. The Parthians do get an equivalent cataphracted horse-archer, but this also applies to the two other steppen factions.

What the Parthians do get is two of the most powerful cavalry units available in the mod. Hayasdan gets one rather equivalent unit, as does the Saka-Rauka and Baktria (These are the late general's bodyguards). This is a significant advantage to the Parthians; They no longer need to amass generals in order to form the super-heavy nucleus, but they can recruit by necessity and convenience.

[jabarto]

May I suggest the Pahlavân?...

Wow, your post makes it seem kinda hard not to love those guys. I've never tried them, but I think I'll give them a shot in my next campaign.

[Andronikos]

My language is Slovak. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovakia

[qoute]Wow, your post makes it seem kinda hard not to love those guys. I've never tried them, but I think I'll give them a shot in my next campaign.[/qoute]
Completely agree, it was really a good post, I would say it was a short argumentative essay.